MeteOrihuela to warn Town Hall of dangerous weather

Pedro Gómez signs agreement to advise when storms or gales are predicted

Orihuela Town Hall has signed an agreement with the meteorologist Pedro Gómez Cascales, the man behind the MeteOrihuela project, to receive advice and collaboration about reacting to extreme weather.

It was signed on Friday at the Town Hall with Councillor Victor Valverde, Emergency Coordinator Jesús Rodríguez and Civil Protection boss Pepe Andújar.

With this, Gómez has become a volunteer collaborator with the Emergencies Department, a job for which he will not get paid but will provide services including a weekly bulletin and a short term forecast of possible meteorological phenomena.

“In this way we are increasing the quality of our actions and the services we provide to the public,” explained Valverde.

This collaboration will, for example, speed up decision making about whether to prohibit outdoor activities in case of storms or cancel school classes because of wind or rain. “It is much quicker that the 112 service and more accurate,” pointed out the councillor, who indicated that the Valencian government service is more generalised while Meteorihuela concentrates on local predictions.

Pedro Gómez, a Geography graduate with a Masters in Meteorology, has the only officially approved weather station in all Orihuela, and under this agreement will he will use all his instruments to make predictions for the Town Hall.